Anyone else get this problem from time to time?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I’m talking about the powdery, rough paint surface effect I get sometimes at the wing roots of my aircraft. It just happened on my latest P51 project. Whats really annoying is I know it’s dry paint landing on the surface because of the the vortex type effect in these areas but sometimes it still happens despite my best efforts at preventing it. I usually try to paint these areas first and get in reasonably close and get the paint on so it’s just wet and then direct the rest of my spraying efforts away from those areas but sometimes it kind of just sneaks up on me and before I know it, [:0] there it is. My usual habit is to use Tamiya acrylics thinned 1:1 with Tamiya thinner at about 15 PSI, which works perfectly for eveything else I try to paint. I think somehow I have developed a bad technique in the way I am handling these areas but I’m struggling to figure it out and I just can’t see where I’m going wrong. I think I’ll try gently sanding the affected area and respraying, rather than stripping the entire model, as I was going to use an expensive set of decals on this build and now I can’t justify using them unless I can fix this problem. Guys, any comments would be appreciated.

Cheers…Snowy [V]

2

Snowy:

You are not alone in this boat. I have had this happen to me quite alot as well.3 things you can try. That worked for me

1: Try thinning the paint a little bit more and try to get a little closer to the area.
2: Try adding an Acrylic retarder to the thinned paint to extend the drying time. This can be found in any arts and crafts stores.
3: If the paint is already on the model like the one you mentioned. Gently rub the area that is effected with 000 or 0000 Steel Wool. Not alot of pressure is needed just the weight of the wool itself moving over the paint should smooth the paint out without removing any of it. Just remember to dust the model off before clearcoating it.

Good luck and hope this helps you out
Paul

3

Another thing that will help prevent that is to get your A/B closer to the model

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More thinner, and drop the psi even more.

start painting the wing root first and paint out from there, that way you aren’t painting on overspray blowing into the area.